Construction Company Organization (LLC)

How a construction company organizes for its work depends on number and size of projects, project complexity, and geographical distribution of the work.

 Limited Liability Company

A form of organization known as the limited liability Company (L.L.C.), permitted in most states, and combines many of the attributes and advantages of the corporation and of the partnership. For example, the owners of an L.L.C., who are known as ‘‘members’’ after executing the required legal articles of organization, enter into an operating agreement in which one of their number is designated as the manager of the company.

The company does not pay taxes on its profits, but rather the individual members have the prorate share of their percentage of ownership of the company added to their income for taxation purposes. On the other hand, there is no individual liability of any of the members for losses or debts of the company as there would be if the ownership were in the form of a partnership. Additional members may be added to or dropped from the company by a vote or written consent of 100% of all of the members.

No member, other than the manager, has any power or authority to bind the company, unless such a person has been specifically authorized in writing by the manager to act on behalf of the company. A manager may be removed in the event of his or her neither willful or intentional violation nor rack less disregard of the manager’s duties to the company. The manager’s replacement will be selected by the members who originally selected the manager. Such replacement will be decided by a majority vote of the members.

Reference
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK

Robert F. Borg

Chairman, Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Company

Scarsdale, New York

Manage Political Problems as Issues

This article copied from some other website.
The larger your project gets, the more you will find that the issues you encounter are political in nature. "Politics" is all about interacting with people and influencing them to get things done. This can be a good thing, a bad thing, or a neutral thing, depending on the tactics people use. Let’s consider some examples of how utilizing political skills might be good, but can also be bad.

You are able to move your ideas forward in the organization and get people to act on them (good), by currying favor, suppressing other opposing ideas and taking credit for the ideas of your staff (bad).

You have an ability to reach consensus on complex matters with a number of different stakeholders (good), by working behind the scenes with people in power, making deals and destroying people who don’t get on board (bad).

You receive funding for projects that are important to you and to your organization (good), by misrepresenting the costs and benefits, and by going around the existing funding processes (bad).

The point of the examples is to show that influencing people and getting things done in a company is a good thing and “office politics” can have good connotations or bad. 

Dealing with office politics is not a standard project management process. However, once the politics start to impact the project adversely, the situation should be identified as an issue, since it is a problem whose resolution is outside the control of the project team. You can’t utilize a checklist to resolve political issues. Political problems are people-related and situational. What works for one person in one situation may not work for another person in the same situation because people, and their reactions, are different. Identifying the problem as an issue will bring visibility to the situation and hopefully get the proper people involved in the resolution. Keep three things in mind to manage a political issue.

Try to recognize situations and events where politics are most likely to be involved. This could include decision points, competition for budget and resources, and setting project direction and priorities.

Deal with people openly and honestly. When you provide an opinion or recommendation, express the pros and cons to provide a balanced view to other parties. Make sure you distinguish the facts from your opinions so the other parties know the difference. 

If you feel uncomfortable with what you are asked to do, get your sponsor or your functional manager involved. They tend to have more political savvy and positional authority, and they should be able to provide advice and cover for you.

If you feel good about what you are doing, how you are influencing and how you are getting things done, then you are probably handling office politics the right way. If you feel guilty about how you are treating people and if you have second thoughts about the methods you are using to get things done, you are probably practicing the dark side of office politics.